Product DescriptionMODEL- WPN824NA VENDOR- NETGEAR
FEATURES- RangeMax Wireless Router
1000% more wireless coverage than standard 802.11g.
As a 21st-century consumer, computers are an integral part of your
life. But does your home computing environment work for you? Even
if you already have a wireless network, you have probably found
"dead spots" in your home where your Internet connection fades in
and out, or drops off completely.
Now, say good-bye to those dead spots -- and say hello to the
freedom to work (and play) absolutely anywhere in your home!
With the RangeMax Wireless Router, your whole house becomes a "hot
spot." NETGEARs exclusive RangeMax technology gives you the longest
range of any wireless device on the market today - up to 10 times
the wireless coverage of 802.11g. So you will have a sizzling-fast,
consistent connection in every room of your house -- and beyond.
Includes Wireless Router, 12V Power Adapter, Ethernet cable, Vertical
stand, Setup guide, Resource CD, Warranty/Support Information card.
RANGE MATTERS
Put the NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless Router to work for you, and that is
all you need -- leave those range extenders, repeaters, and external
antennas at the store. RangeMax adjusts to the interference and physical
barriers in your home, and delivers up to 500,000 square feet of
coverage -- 1000% more than 802.11g. And you do not need to throw away
your old wireless devices; RangeMax is 100% compatible with your
existing 802.11b/g products and will boost their range and speed by up
to 50%.
POWER
RangeMax is an advanced Smart MIMO (Multi-In, Multi-Out) technology that
uses seven internal antennas. RangeMax constantly surveys your home
environment for physical barriers and interference and adjusts the
wireless signal to compensate for these performance blockers. For
example, if you carry your laptop from the family room to the bedroom,
RangeMax automatically senses the change and selects from over 100
possible antenna configurations to deliver you the fastest, clearest
connection! Everyone will enjoy consistently high-speed connections,
everywhere in your house -- no drop-outs, and no dead spots.
SIMPLE, SAFE, SECURE
Think you cannot set up your wireless router without an engineering
degree? Think again. NETGEARs SmartWizard makes the set-up easy and
hassle-free. SmartWizard automatically detects your ISPs network
settings, then walks you through each step of the installation process.
It is like having your own computer technician, right by your side.
NETGEAR also ensures that every computer user in your home network can
work and play safely -- with a double firewall, WEP (Wired Equivalent
Privacy), and WPA-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access, - Pre-Shared Key)
Security, your network will have powerful safeguards against
unauthorized usage.
-- SPECIFICATIONs ------------------------------------
STANDARDs - IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, 2.4 GHz
CONNECTORS - (5) 10BaseT/100BaseTX/RJ45 ports (1 Internet, 4 LAN)
PERFORMANCE - When used with RangeMax client adapters, delivers the
longest range of any wireless technology on the market up
to 500,000 square feet of uninterrupted coverage.
Maintains video quality up to 10 times the effective speed
when at long distances.
Improves performance of existing legacy 802.11b and 802.11g
wireless devices up to 50%.
Data speed of up to 108 Mbps
SECURITY - Double Firewall:
- Network Address Translation (NAT) to hide PCs & files
from outside users.
- Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall to deny
outside requests for personal information.
- Denial of Service (DoS) attack prevention
- Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDS)
- Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) 64-bit,128-bit encryption
- Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA, Pre-Shared Key)
- Wireless Access Control (SSID) to identify authorized
wireless network devices.
- Supports 2 VPN pass-through tunnels (IPSec, L2TP, PPTP)
- Exposed Host (DMZ) for secure gaming
- MAC address authentication
PRIVACY & PARENTAL CONTROL-
"Trusted user" controls
Time-based usage controls
Web site logging
Remote management
URL content filtering
REQUIREMENTS - Broadband (cable, DSL) Internet service and modem with
Ethernet connection.
2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g wireless adapter. Alternatively, an
Ethernet adapter and cable for each computer.
Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP; Mac OS; NetWare, UNIX, or Linux
Internet Explorer 5.0 or Netscape 4.7 or higher
We Recommend using this product with the WPN111, WPN311, or
WPN511 RangeMax Wireless Adapters.
SIZE - 8.8" x 1.2" x 6.0" WT.- 1.2 lbs.
www.netgear.com
Customer ReviewsReviewed on 2008-07-19  
Works wonderfully... when it works
My Netgear is 3 weeks old. I purchased it for two main reasons. The SPI (stateful packet inspection) feature and the logging feature... where it automatically logs all web sites visited by the computers on the network (my kids) . It also sends logs to a designated email address. This allows me to review what website they went to. I could have easily used the site blocking feature on the router, but chose not to.
The router is extremely easy to set up. Even mac address filtering was very simple. The wireless signal was very strong, allowing my laptop to work from my neighbor's patio. The router worked for about 6 days straight without incident. Then, every day when I would arrive home from work, the router had crashed, and my family would not have internet access while I was at work. Every time, a simply unplug of power, wait 30 seconds and plug power back in and router was fine for the evening. This happened for about 10 days straight.
To insure it was the router and not my cable modem, I removed the Netgear and installed my old Belkin router, and it work flawlessly for the next four days. The Belkin did not offer the logging and site blocking features the Netgear offered. I re-installed the Netgear and again, every day it crashed and everyday I had to reboot it when arriving home.
Emails to their overseas tech support brought solution suggestions that did not address the issues I had enetered on their support website. They finally said to call their tech support. I called. Three straight evenings of try this and that, then try downloading new firmware then reset default values.. Hours of my time, but nothing would work. They finally said to RMA it... but at my shipping expense and a total delay of over two weeks without the product.. or, I could pay 16.95 for expedited service for a product that did not work. I refused to pay expedited shipping when their product was at fault. Had they paid I would have used the RMA. Instead, back to the big box store it goes.
I have had other Netgear routers twice before many years ago. Their products, I felt, used to be superior. Now their product quality and overseas tech support is abysmal. I assure you...its replacement will no longer bear the Netgear name.
|  | Reviewed on 2008-07-11
Do Not Buy this router if you want to do port forwarding!
I have this router for less than one week, and found trouble with the port forwarding, then I searched the internet, found several forums have lots of complains about the same issue, there is no fix firmware available from netgear site. the problem is, after you set up the port forwarding, the records would be saved, then after a few hours, or even mintutes, you will find the forwarding suddenly disappear, you go check the setting, found the saved forwarding records' gone. then you try to re-create again, you receive conflicts of the service... at this point, you have no choice, you have to re-set the router and do it over again, but the chance is, it will happen again. If you don't do the port forwarding, you will be fine, this router has better signal strenght, and better range, I compared with D-Link, Linksys and Airlink routers, this WPN624 wins the game! | | Reviewed on 2008-07-04
Great wifi router
Works great. My connection speed is much faster. Definitely worth buying as an upgrade. | | Reviewed on 2008-06-13
Worked for 18 months, then firmware problems
Update: 1 day after I wrote this, Netgear sent me a firmware fix that corrected the problems and it all works fine now. Although I did not appreciate being blown off like that the 1st time, I am pleased they fixed it. Not sure if coincidence or they read these (last contact from them blowing me off was March 18). So, I am tentatively a fan of Netgear again.
I bought this about 2 years ago. It worked perfectly until about 6 months ago. I use MAC filtering. I added one more address and it crashed. It crashed each time I tried to boot it. I was forced to reset to manu settings. Now, I cannot add MAC filtering and other Firmware features are broken. I made sure I have the latest firmware and all. The Netgear support people (India) were pretty hopeless (ignoring what I was telling them and repeating instructions on what I said I did already). I finally got a 2nd tier support person, who 1st chastised me for being off warranty and then said there was nothing they could do and to buy another one. Sigh.
I have had good luck with D-link until about a year ago. I had two D-Link USB Wireless sticks die in under a year. I see so many other people have similar issues that I am moving to Belkin.
I note that Linksys was like this - they were great and then they grew and the products turned to garbage. Since Cisco bought them, they seem even worse.
If you buy this, consider that it may be only about a 1 to 2 year life. | | Reviewed on 2008-06-08
Here's Blinking at You
Four stars for now. I only just got the WPN824 version 2 from a flea market for $10.00, so I can't complain about it. I didn't have the CD so worked through the router's log-in web page and made my settings there. Firmware, software, and manuals are available from the Netgear site.
So far, so good. I run three wired computers (1 PC and two Mac's) and one wireless laptop. Setting up the router via its Web page was straightforward and there are explanatory notes alongside each option.
I agree with other reviewers that the flashing dome lights are unnecessary and idiotic. However, a button on the back of the unit, deceptively crafted like a power on/off switch, will turn off that particular irritating function.
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